


Soul Journey

by NAOA



Category: X-Men (Comicverse), X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, F/M, Grief/Mourning, Magic, Mutants, Out of Body Experiences, Presumed Dead, Souls
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-06
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:02:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23516617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NAOA/pseuds/NAOA
Summary: During a battle, Rogue's soul is disconnected from her body and she's left to find a way to fix things all by herself. While she tries to repair the damage and get back to normal, she's weighed down by her team mate's grief over their believed loss.
Relationships: Remy LeBeau/Rogue
Comments: 1
Kudos: 26





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, I wrote this short little fic back in 2013 and hope you all enjoy it today!

Several things did not make sense. For one, Rogue did not remember taking to the air and when she looked down, the scene below her could not have been possible. She shook her head and tried to clear it. There was a distinct ringing in her ears, obscuring all other noise but what her ears could not hear, her eyes saw well enough. But again, what her eyes could see could not have been real. She brought her hand to her ear and patted it, trying to clear her heard from the ringing. Down below she could see herself, or at least someone who looked like her. But that someone was not moving. Next to that someone knelt Gambit and that struck her as strange because he looked heart broken. He was crying but she could not hear him. She shook her head again and drifted down to be near him and slowly her hearing cleared and she began to hear his words. He was crying in French and when she looked around, she could see the others standing around, all with mournful faces.

She reached out a hand to touch the still woman's face, to assure herself that it was not her but she could not bring herself to touch the curtain of hair that so resembled her own. She didn't even need to, Gambit lifted the woman up and held her and her head lolled back, clearing the hair away. She was pail, with only the last glimmer of life's color still gracing her cheeks and her bright red lips stood out strangely against her paling skin.

Rogue felt herself sink because the woman in his arms was her. The woman who in all likelihood was dead was surely her. "No!" She whispered but he did not hear her and he continued his misery in his own broken French.

She reached forward to touch his face, to assure him that she was not really dead but she couldn't touch him. Her fingers went through him as though she was not there and then she too cried, because she could not look at him anymore and she could not look at the form that was supposed to be her. She stood and turned away and through her teary, green eyes, she saw the others, all standing around and she heard them in their misery. She looked from each one and realized that they could not see her. Still this realization could not keep her from going to each one in turn. She stopped by Scot and waved a hand in front of his face before moving on to Logan and flat out trying to smack him. She moved to Storm and snapped her fingers but nothing she did mattered because none of them could see her and she was forced to redirect her attention. A crowd of civilians was forming.

Scot moved forward and bent towards Gambit. "We have to go." He whispered.

Gambit nodded and rose, carrying the body in his arms. Rogue floated after him. She waited for all of the X-men to file into the Black Bird before she followed in after. She found Gambit in the back, still sitting with her body and she noticed how no one told him to strap in or told him that the body would be best left elsewhere. She knelt by him and listened to him talk in French.

"Remy," She whispered. "Remy, it's okay because that's not me! I'm right here, only you can't see me." She made to touch him again but her hand went right through him again. She sat by him and watched his face, carefully not looking at her own.

She hardly noticed when the jet landed at the mansion.

"Gambit," Storm said, making her notice their new surroundings. "Remy, we must leave the jet."

He looked up at her as though he wanted to argue but then he nodded and with a final heave of strength, he stood.

Rogue followed them out and to the medical lab. She drifted along behind the others, fearful of what Hank would say when they brought in a body. Would he say she was dead? It couldn't be true because she was there. She could see everything and hear, she just couldn't interact. She couldn't be dead and then the scary thought that maybe she was a ghost flitted into her mind. That would explain a large portion of her current situation. She heard yelling and looked up. Gambit was being told he had to part from the body.

She drifted to float next to him as he slumped into a chair. She floated around behind him and draped her arms over his shoulders, resting her head on her arms and hovering there. "It's okay, sugah. I'm right here."

He sat in grief. Shoulders slumped and head down. She wished she could reach him and it was worse than the usual no touching because now she really couldn't touch him. It wasn't just skin, it was everything.

"Are you alright?" She looked up, it was Storm. Storm came and sat next to them, though she could not know that Rogue was there. Storm put a hand on Remy's.

He shook his head. "There no point in having a doctor check her." He said. "I looked for a pulse and didn't find one an' I felt her get col' in my arms. She be dead."

Storm's brows rose and came together in pain. "I'm so sorry."

He sat, head down again. "Dere be nothing de doctor can do fo' her."

Rogue drew away and floated upwards. She could not bare to listen. She floated to the medical room and passed through the doors as easily as if they were not there. Beast was there with Jean and the two of them looked solemn. "Oh, don't you two say I'm dead too!" She said, angrily.

She looked down at the beautiful woman on the table. It was her and it was a strange sensation to be looking down at herself. It was unreal, yet there she was, in two places at once.

"Gambit knows she's dead." Jean said quietly.

"I fear for how he'll take this. Knowing is one thing, but it is always different to hear it from a doctor. Somehow, it is always so much more final."

Rogue looked between the two of them, they said she was dead too. She looked at the body and in a fit of rage, flew up through the ceiling. Up and up and up and up she flew, wanting to get away. She came out through the mansion roof and screamed. The wind lifted her hair and she hung still. "What's going on?" She asked.

No one answered but there was no one really to hear her and even if there was, they couldn't hear her. She hung, thinking hard. She tried to think of how she had 'died'. Who had she been fighting? She tried to remember but there was so little of the fight that came clear in her mind. She rubbed her temple.

She had been fighting the Scarlet Witch. She remembered that. She had been fighting and then. . . the Scarlet Witch had said something and she had tried to hit her but then. . .

It came to her that there was a gap in her memory from where her attempt to hit the Witch had failed and where she had awoken in the air. The battle had apparently ended during the gap. She floated down, feeling dejected. She sank through the roof and into the kitchen. There was a heavy feeling in the house. She looked and found Storm in the kitchen with Jean.

"I can't believe it!" Jean said. "I just can't believe it." He voice fell low.

Storm put a hand on her arm. "I know. I can hardly either. And I can only imagine how Gambit feels."

Jean nodded. "I know. I'd keep a watch on him. He's very upset but that's completely understandable."

Both women fell silent and Rogue hovered by the microwave, watching quietly. She bit her lip and turned away, pushing herself into another room. She found Scot staring into the fire in the library. He was with Beast but neither of them were speaking and what ever they might say when they got around to it, she didn't want to hear, so she drifted onwards. She found Logan in the garage. He was drinking and had smashed a work bench.

Moving on again, she headed to her own room and moved to lay down on the bed but some one was already there. Gambit lay asleep on her bed, clothes and shoes still on. He was curled up as though he wished to hold a person who was not there. She stood in the doorway and looked at him. He face had dried but left tear tracks under his eyes and his hair was a disheveled mess.

She sat on the bed and ran a hand over his hair. She couldn't touch it or feel it but it made her feel better and she hoped that somehow it made him feel better too. "Sugah, I'm here." She whispered. "I'm here and I wish you could know that." He didn't move.

She lay down next to him and watched his face. It was so still and calm that it scared her but there was nothing she could do to assure him that she was there, right next to him. So she lay, still and quiet and felt her own tears dampen her hair.


	2. Chapter 2

She did not sleep. Maybe she couldn't or maybe she didn't need to but whatever the reason, she didn't sleep. She had lain in bed, thinking. When it got to be morning again, she rose and as much as she did not want to leave him, she left Gambit to sleep. Maybe he won't wake up for a while. She hoped, thinking that sleep might spare him from his pain.

She found several early risers heading to breakfast. Beast was there, looking tired and as though he had not slept. He stumbled and sat, not eating. She floated over to him and wished she could have given him some notion of her presence.

Time passed and gradually the seats filled. Gambit did not come down, nor did Wolverine or several others. Once most people had cleared away, Beast dew close to Jean and whispered in her ear that she should come down to the lab.

"Oh, I don't think I can." Jean said.

"You must! You have to confirm what I think I've found."

Jean gave him a sad look. "If I really must." She finished clearing away her breakfast dishes and then followed him to the lab. Rogue followed curiously.

"It doesn't make any sense." Beast said. "Rogue's body is indeed dead but it's not doing the things a dead body should be doing." Jean made a noise. "No, listen! It;s as though her body is simply frozen. There's no heart beat or breathing but then, there's nothing. Even the cells have stopped. They aren't alive or dead!"

Jean came in behind him and looked away from the body still on the table. "How can that be?" She asked.

Rogue held her breath, floating over to the table and examining herself with morbid curiosity. She examined her own features in a way she had never done before and then looked up.

"I can't explain it but I don't believe that her body will. . ." Beast paused. "decompose."

Jean shuddered but then seemed to think on his words. "I don't see how that's possible. We saw her die. The Scarlet Witch hit her with some of her magic."

Beast crossed his arms. "Perhaps, the magic did this."

Rogue listened carefully, ideas forming in her head as fast as possible. So, the Scarlet Witch's magic had done this to her. So that woman had caused this. If that was the case, then maybe the witch could put it right! She shot up through the ceiling but stopped in her room, hearing an odd noise. Gambit was sitting up and with him was Nightcrawler. She paused to listen.

"She was my sister." Nighcrawler said, shaking his head and holding one of her hairbrushes. Gambit sat on the bed, looking as though he didn't want to hear his words. "Don't you worry." Rogue said. "I'll make the Witch fix this."She watched them for a minute before heading on up.

Outside she caught a glimpse of Logan taking his anger out on a tree. She gave him a look of pain and flew on. She would find Wanda and make her fix this.

She searched her memory for where they had last heard Magneto was. She could think of two places. She hung in the air, deciding which would be a better try. Magneto had been with his children on a ship in international waters but at the same time they had heard rumors that he was somewhere in Canada. She paused, thinking hard before jetting off towards the Atlantic Ocean.

It took her three ocean liners and tow freight carriers before she found Magneto's. Fortune was on her side. The Scarlet Witch was standing on the bow of the ship, sea wind sweeping her hair. She was looking out across the water into a distance obscured by fog. Rogue swooped down behind her and stood, legs apart for balance and hands balled into fists.

"You!" She cried.

Wanda turned around slowly.

"You can hear me!" Rogue gasped. She hadn't really been expecting that. In fact, it only then occurred to her that she had not had a plan for what would happen if the Witch hadn't been able to hear her. She stood her ground.

"And see." Wanda said quietly.

Rogue lunged at her, throwing her whole weight at the witch. She flew full force but went straight through her, tumbling along in the air. She twisted and caught her balance and hovered, angrily in place.

"But I can't touch you." Wanda said, again in the same quiet voice.

"What did you do to me?!" Rogue roared.

Wanda turned back to the sea for a moment before answering. "Magic. I used a spell to remove your soul from your body."

Anger flared up again in Rogue's head. "Put me back!"

"I can't." Wanda sighed and returned her vigilance to the ocean. "The spell is a one way street. Once it's cast, I can't reverse it."

"You're lying!" Panic over took her and Rogue felt her heart beat speed. Odd, she thought. That she should have a heart beat when she was not in her body. She clenched her fists more tightly. "You can fix this!"

Wanda shook her head in an almost apologetic way. "I can't. I'm not lying."

"There must be something!" Rogue tried. She was very aware of the rising pitch of her voice and the disappointment growing in her heart.

"You could find someone strong enough to fix you. A psychic, maybe but you'll have to get them to notice you first."

Rogue bit her lip. "A psychic?" She asked.

"Maybe, I don't know for sure. I've never used that spell before."

Rogue gritted her teeth. "You don' know for sure?! How can you not know? It was your magic!"

Wanda turned and the passive look on her face was infuriating. "I'm sorry, I've never used that spell before."

"Wanda, who are you speaking to?"

Rogue momentarily forgot her position of invisible apparition and drew up, preparing for a fight but Magneto made no notice of her and she relaxed, remembering that he could neither see not hear her.

"No one." Wanda said, lying perfectly. "I was speaking to myself. Reflecting over a piece of magic I preformed."

Magneto cast an eye around but saw nothing and Rogue stood needlessly still. Then, with a swish of his cape, he retreated back into the cabin. Wanda returned her attention to Rogue. "I cannot fix what I have done but I must warn you that there is a limit of how long your body can last without a soul in it. When the clock runs out, your body will die and your soul will leave this world.

Rogue swallowed. "How long do I have?"

"I don't know. A month a day, there's no telling. Your team has powerful psychics on it, get them to notice you and help them find a way to put you back in your body."

Rogue crossed her arms. "And exactly how do I do that?" She asked. She was getting fed up.

Wanda gave her a solemn look. "That's up to you."

"That's not good enough!" Rogue made to grab the witch's shoulder and turn her around but her hand phased right through her. "You got me into this mess, you have to help me!"

"And what do you think would happen if I just went strolling into your x-mansion? You know I can't do that."

Rogue paused. That was true and even if the Witch did help her and fixed everything, the others wouldn't be dying to thank her. "Alright," She said angrily. "But as soon as I get my body back, I'm coming after you!"

"You can try." Wanda said. "But know that I can do this again."

Rogue glared at her, knowing her words were true and hating them. She kicked off into the air, flying at full speed towards the U.S. She didn't slow down until she had sunk into the main floor of the mansion.

When the rush of the wind faded from her ears it was replaced by a loud commotion from below. She sank through the floor into the med labs and was met with a large group of people people all jostling around. At the center of the commotion was Gambit and he was a mess. He was drunk and crying.

"What do you mean, she's not dead?!" He yelled. He was fighting to get into the room where her body lay.

"Please calm down!" Beast pleaded. "She's not dead but she's not alive either."

Remy's composure seemed to have completely vanished and Rogue forgot her predicament and yelled at him.

"Remy, calm down!" She cried. "I'm here! I'm right here!"

He didn't hear her and she felt foolish but it was painful to watch the absolute misery on his face.

"How can that be?" He asked, fighting against Logan who was trying to keep him from reaching the body. "I was with her, I felt her die in my arms! I felt her get col' I-" Gambit stopped, his own words registering too heavily with him. "I just don' understand." He said, head falling.

"I know, and neither do we and until we do, there's nothing we can do but wait."

Gambit nodded. "Can I just stay down here with her, please?" He sounded so dejected that again, it hurt to hear his voice.

The others exchanged looks and there was a brief moment of hesitation before Beast nodded and Storm put a hand on Gambit's shoulder. She looked at him concernedly but then drew away and the others slowly left him until it was only Rogue and Gambit. He sat down in a chair next to the table and sighed, rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands.

Rogue looked at him with pity and sat across from him.

"I wish you knew." She whispered. "I'm okay and I'm going to find a way to come back." It was eerily still in the small lab. "And when I get back, I'm going to make this up to you."

He didn't move and she went on. "Remy, I know we've had our difficulties and I know we probably will again but I'm gonna try. I really am." She clenched her fists and doubled over her knees, looking away from him. "I'm gonna do my best." She was almost angry that he didn't respond. "Damn you and me. We're just too stubborn. I think that's always been our problem. We're too stubborn. But sugah, I don't want to change that. I think you and me, we're too stubborn to stop loving each other."

A tear slipped down her face and she wiped it away with her fingers. "I'm gonna come back, just you wait!"

And with that, she rose to her feet and left him, no one could see her and that meant that it didn't matter that there were tears staining her cheeks but she wiped them away anyway and left the labs.


	3. Chapter 3

Two days passed and Rogue could not come up with a single solution to her problem. She chased after psychics and yelled until her throat hurt but no one even glanced her way. She was getting frustrated and angry. Several times she'd wanted to fly back to Magneto's ship and confront Wanda again and once she'd almost made it out of U.S. Waters but she'd managed to keep her temper.

It was getting to be hopeless. Rogue was slowly beginning to believe that she would never be able to get back in her body.

But then, when hope seemed almost gone, she got another shot. She was in the library, floating around Psylocke when Kitty came phasing through the door. She looked over at Kitty with little interest. She was much too focused on trying to get Psylocke's attention to care about anything else. But Kitty held her attention by looking right at her.

"Kitty?" Rogue asked.

The girl, who was only half way through the door nodded, eyes wide. "Rogue. . . how are you up here?" She asked.

Betsy looked up from her book. "Who are you talking to?" She asked.

Kitty shook her head, still staring at Rogue. "Rogue." She raised her arm and pointed. "She's right there."

Betsy looked to where she pointed but her eyes drifted right over the spot. "No one is there and I can't sense anyone."

"Kitty, can you hear me?" Rogue asked.

"Yeah!" The girl still sounded stunned. She phased through the door and became tangible again but then frowned, looking around. "Where did you go?"

Rogue panicked. "Kitty, I'm right here!" She yelled.

Betsy was still looking around the room suspiciously.

Kitty backed up into a coffee table and went intangible for a split second to avoid knocking it over and in that second caught another glimpse of Rogue. She gasped and remained intangible.

Rogue breathed a sigh of relief. "Kitty, listen, quick! You've got to tell the others, the Scarlet Witch removed my soul from my body but I'm still alive!" Kitty gasped. "And tell them that she said a psychic might be able to put me back!"

Kitty nodded. "Will do! Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine but you have to hurry, I need to get back to my body as quickly as possible."

With a final nod, Kitty turned to Psylocke and relayed the message. Betsy's eyes widened. "How on earth. . ." She looked around the room again before heading out of the library. "I'm going to tell Scot."

The three of them hurried down the hall to where Scot was sitting with Jean, finishing a let lunch. It took no time at all in telling the story and Jean almost cried for joy.

"Then we have to try it!" Scot said. "Jean, Betsy, would you two be willing to try together?"

Jean nodded and they headed down to the lab. "Wait. . ." Scot ordered, holding out an arm. "If Gambit is still in there, this may be difficult." He paused, thinking. "Kitty, go get Beast, tell him to make Gambit go upstairs for food. He's been down here for three days and I don't think he's eaten."

Kitty phased off and disappeared through a wall, returning moments later with Beast and Gambit. Rogue covered her mouth. He had, it looked like, at least washed his face but other than that, he looked miserable. "Don't you worry," She whispered. "I'll be back before you know it!"

The other X-Men turned into the lab and all looked to Kitty who looked to Rogue. "What do we do now?" Kitty asked.

Rogue paused. "I don't know. . . she didn't say. Can Jean or Betsy reconnect my conscious to my body?"

Kitty asked and Jean said she would give it a try. Psylocke nodded and the two of them made a solid effort to locate Rogue through Kitty's conscious. "I've got her!" Jean cried. Scot put a hand on her shoulder and Rogue felt the pull.

Betsy latched on moments later and the two of them worked to pull Rogue down towards her body. "Empty you head." Betsy said. "Relax and try not to think of anything.

Rogue did her best, laying out in the air over her body and trying to think of nothing. She felt herself being pulled downward towards the body on the lab table and held her breath. An odd sensation over came her as she melded in with the body. It was like. . . A Glove. The though popped into her head and then out again with rapid succession. It was like slipping into a glove and then flexing your fingers to make it fit right. She had a sudden thought that she probably knew more about gloves than anyone else and then that thought too was gone.

She opened her eyes and blinked. The light was some how brighter and she could see the others looking at her. Jean and Psylocke both had sweaty faces and Kitty was nearly shaking.

"Rogue?" Scot asked.

She opened her mouth to speak but her voice cracked. They all took it as a sign of life.

She pulled herself up and was very grateful when Betsy brought her a glass of water and she didn't have to ask for it.

"Some one should tell Gambit." Jean whispered. "Kitty, would you do so? And get Beast too, he'll want to look her over before discharging her."

Rogue finished her glass of water and looked around again. "Thank you." She whispered, sliding off the table and into a chair.

The lab doors opened again and Gambit came in in a hurry.

"Chere!" He cried.

She smiled at him and drifted up into his arms, hugging him. "It's okay, Remy. I'm back and I'm not going anywhere."

He held on tightly, more tightly than he would have under other circumstances but it was okay and she was happy to have him again.


End file.
